Singapore’s Lees Win a Case Against a Defunct Magazine

As expected, a three-judge appellate panel has upheld a ruling that the Far Eastern Economic Review defamed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in a 2006 interview with Chee Soon Juan, the long-suffering secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. …

In the 204-page concurrence by Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Appellate Justice Andrew Pheng Boon Keong and Judge Judith Prakash, the three agreed with the Singapore High Court’s ruling last September that the two had been defamed, dismissing the appeals and awarding costs “and the usual consequential orders” to the Lees. Decisions by the Court of Appeal are final.

In more surprising news, on the same day five members of the Singapore Democratic Party were acquitted of a charge of taking part in an illegal procession, the first time in living memory that a court decision didn’t go the government’s way. Temasek Review has the story.